The NYMEX February natural gas futures contract settled at $2.267/MMBtu Wednesday, down 5.8 cents, as traders showed apprehension toward weather forecasts and storage withdrawal predictions. WSI in its six- to 10-day outlook Wednesday, shows warmer weather in the Midwest and Northeast than Tuesday’s forecast. After total US demand reached 107.3 Bcf/d Tuesday, Bentek Energy, a unit of Platts, showed total demand sliding to 97.7 Bcf/d Wednesday and averaging 95.5 Bcf/d over the next week. On the supply side, US production hit 71.1 Bcf/d Wednesday and is forecast to average 71.3 Bcf/d over the next two weeks. Analysts that Platts surveyed expect the US Energy Information Administration to estimate Thursday a draw from natural gas storage stocks between 93 Bcf and 97 Bcf for the reporting week that ended Friday. A pull within those expectations would be less than the 116-Bcf draw reported this time last year and sharply below […]